Tag Archives: India

People keep saying that Aamir Khan is defaming the country. Really? Is speaking out ones mind means defaming the country? No. Not at all.

No one is defaming the country. He is just speaking his mind out and questioning the reason for despondency which you might have not felt and he may have felt.

Why anyone speaking his mind out, in case that opinion is not in favor of the government, is defaming the country?

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of United States, said,

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

Authority can be described in many forms and even includes the government. If you don’t question the government, it soon becomes despotic. We questioned the Congress government when they did wrong. You can see where they are now – nowhere. Let us keep that power with us. And not give away that power to the government.

Government is doing many things right but can it do everything right, 100% of time, I doubt. And that is when you need to question the government. Last six-seven months, though I have not stayed in India, but have got my dose of news from my parents, friends and relatives – there is a little uncertainty about how the government and the ruling party is going to handle the fascist elements in its being. Likes of Adityanath, Sadhavi, Sharma should have been nipped in the bud. But it was never done and we keep hearing leaders asking everyone who speaks out to go to the Pakistan implying that person is not a patriot and is a Pakistani agent. That is not right way to handle things. Modi needs to talk about it and reassure that sense of justice still prevails.

Part III of The Constitution of India guarantees Fundamental Rights to citizens of India which includes right to freedom of speech and expression. However, with series of recent incidents that have taken place, it seems that it is available only to few people who have reach and means to show their clout – physical or monetary. And the recent incident of the arrest of 2 girls for posting their point of view (totally harmless from any perception) only aggravates this view and issue. Have we totally lost it?

The FB comment posted by Shaheen Dhada, one of the girl arrested for “hurting religious sentiments” just mentions that there was no need for the bandh because one leader of a political party has died. And just asked why can’t anyone remember the great martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev or any of the likes because of whom we are living in a free India. But are we really living in a free India? Or we are living on the whims and mercy of the political mafias and gundas?

And the police seems to lost it totally. There is a saying in Hindi,

पढ़े पर गुड़ें नहीं

Read but neither understood nor imbibed. (rough translation)

The policemen (barring few) are just doing jobs because they couldn’t clear any other exam. Or it was the last resort for them. How do you expect such people without passion for their job do the rightful thing?

And what Shiv Sainiks are talking about. They can say anything they wish and want. They can go on blabbering hatred comments and no one will take action against them. But a common Indian doesn’t even have the right to say something on something as trivial as Facebook.

#I wrote this on PG on 13th Oct 2010. And posted on FB Notes on 30th Jan 2011.

We have been for long talking about changing the role of the government from being the regulator to that of a facilitator. It is impossible for the government and its administrators to handle the role of a regulator successfully. Therefore, Indian bureaucracy, which have people selected through one of the toughest exams and who boast of great knowledge and ability, are overburdened. This burden can be reduced if we make them the facilitators and not the regulators. Thus, they will be able to use their knowledge and ability in the right direction.

There is a scheme suggested by Finance Ministry of the alternative solution to PDS system. I would like to implement that. It is based on practical thought and behavioral economics. If you want details then read Chapter 2 of Economic Survey 2009-2010.

In India, we discuss about the bad situation of sports other than Cricket. I would like to implement the strategy used by administrators of cricket to bring it to the fore for other sports as well. A private club consortium structure for all the sports body will be the first step towards that goal and the government will provide tax benefits to the body. The government will act as a facilitator by running stadiums and giving them to these bodies on annual rent.

The foremost reform that I would like to see would be in the working of political parties. I would like to bring in the regulation/law for the internal functioning of the political parties. Members of a political party will follow career service, i.e., they will join at the lowest rung and will have to make their way to the top by working effectively. Pre-independence democratic structure of Indian National Congress will be the basis of any such regulation or law.

Recently, I got an opportunity to read a Hindi book IshqFareb authored by Chandan Pandey. The book consists of three short stories all telling the story about Love and Hatred, Love and Betrayal and stories are all weaved with how love is cheated with treachery.

Chandan Pandey is a winner of Indian Jnanpeeth Navlekhan Award 2007 and truly, his stories and way of writing deserve this prize. It is encouraging to see that people are still writing in Hindi when our entire generation is focusing on the English Literature by Indian Authors.

Writing of Chandan Pandey is lucid and very contemporary. I felt a kind of relief in reading the stories and felt that the future of Hindi Literature will be bright only if writers and authors in Hindi of the likes of Chandan Pandey are encouraged. I thank Penguin India to take up the cause of Hindi Literature and welcome their step to publish novels and story books in Hindi language.

Now coming back to the book. The book has three stories: ‘City Public School, Varanasi’, “Shehar Ki Khudai Mein Kya Kuchh Milega”, and “Revolver”. The First one is set in a co-ed school and brings you the memory of school days. The story is about three teenagers and a kind of love triangle narrated beautifully.

The second one is set in college and though my college life is not anywhere near the act, it really is touching to see the two lover separated due to miscommunication and suspicion. Another brilliantly told story.

The third one Revolver is about betrayal, hatred and crime and this one certainly steals the show. The kind of thought gone behind this story is amazing and how much I enjoyed reading is hard to express in words.

There were certain negatives like lack of enough proof reading and certain grammatical mistakes. These I think can be easily ignored. I also did not like the paper on which the book is printed. I know it can be resolved if we get more Hindi readers to buy, love and buy again the Hindi books, as it will then only be economical to publish these books in the choice of papers that they actually deserve to be printed.

Rating: With hope for the best for the Hindi Literature, I would rate the book 4/5.

Final Verdict: Must read for Hindi enthusiasts and lovers.

P.S.:- I received this book as a gift from the publishers, Penguin India in exchange of a review of this book on my blog.

If I have to give a single phrase verdict for the book then it would be Well-researched. Ashwin Sanghi has written a well-researched book, engraved deep into the History of the Indian Sub-continent and linked it well with the history of South Asia.

I love history, especially Ancient Indian History from the times of Indus Valley Civilization through Vedic Period and Buddhism to the reigns of Harshawardhana. The complete material history of the period has some continuity. It has been a well-proven fact that Indus Valley Civilization was not robbed off its glamour by a migrating tribe of Aryans from Western Asia. However, no one has been able to say that the same group of people represented Indus Valley Civilization and Vedic Society. Nevertheless, Ashwin Sanghi has presented this theory, though as a part of fiction, in a very efficient and effective manner.

While reading the book, I somehow forgot that I am reading a work of fiction and read the book as a commentary on Indian History. I would consider this as a commentary on Indian History only if it was not produced in the way it was, it actually was defining the new History for India. Ancient History has always been confusing what with several distortions by both Foreign (especially English) and Nationalist authors who in an attempt to prove their points about Golden Era of India tried to divulge things, which were not there. Ashwin Sanghi’s book comes as great breather as it shares the same sentiments as my understanding and interpretation of the history goes.

The story revolves around Dr. Saini, who is a professor of History, who also happens to be the descendents of Yadava clan of the times of Krishna. The aim of the Dr. Saini is to prove that he is not the murderer of his friend Dr. Varshaney, an Archaeologist based in Kalibangan. To prove himself right, Dr Saini begins the quest for The Krishna Key. How he interprets different signs and symbols, proves his innocence, and finally deciphers the Krishna Key is the main theme of the story. I will not divulge much of this here. If you want to find out then just grab your copy and start reading.

If you love history and are open to different point of view of interpretation then go for this book. It is a must read. There were few instances of poor proofreading towards the end of the book, but they can be easily ignored. Actually, the book will attract your attention so much, that you will not have time to think about these mistakes. So, do not worry about them.

My rating 4.5/5.

Note: I received an author-signed copy of this book as a gift from My Smart Price in return of a review of this book on my blog.

I tried to lodge a grievance against Ministry of Railways but I was not able to submit it. Why? Check this screenshot:-

I got two errors:-

Description should be less than 4000 characters

Special Characters are not allowed in Subject description

Those among you who are in IT will say that I must have used special characters and the characters used would be more than 4000. I checked all this, the message that I was trying to post here didn’t had any special characters. Moreover, just check the screen shots, and let me know where can I find Subject description?

I have masked the content as I do not want to publish for the sake of anonymity. You can clearly see the following message above the Description text area:-

*Please enter Grievance Description upto 3634 characters

Compare this with the second image above. It clearly means that there are 3634 characters left. For special characters, I would like you to take my word. There are no special characters. I have even removed any full stop, commas, etc or for that matter I have not even included any number.

Now, tell me what should I do? Where shall I file a grievance against the Public Grievance Portal?

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renaissance | enlightenment – reawakening – reformation

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We are not makers of History January 18, 2016

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